Clinton to hit the trail in her deep blue home as New York governor race tightens after the June election of Democrat Andrew M. Cuomo as the state’s attorney general—more than just as a symbol with his wife and children.
“I am proud of my family—and what we have accomplished together and how we have done things together—to make my husband proud,” Hillary Clinton said Monday, adding the same praise for Cuomo, whom she described as “a man of extraordinary courage and intelligence, with more decency and humility than anyone I’ve ever met.”
“His leadership has helped our country and our world to heal and move on,” she added.
Hillary Clinton, former secretary of state, speaks in a campaign rally for New York governor Andrew M. Cuomo, in New York on Monday, Dec. 23, 2018. Photo: AP Photo/Mary Altaffer
Clinton said she hopes to stay close to Cuomo at a time when he wants to reach out to the rest of the country as he seeks a second term as governor. She and Cuomo, who was elected in November amid an outcry over his administration’s handling of upstate water crisis, have a shared focus on the issues facing the Central New York region, she told the reporters.
“No one is more aligned than this man with the people of Tompkins County and the residents of our commonwealth and how they need a strong New York state that works for them,” she said. “I am so proud of the leadership he showed as attorney general in the years before the crisis and then as governor and how he has now proven that he is a leader in those years and the future is bright.”
She and Cuomo are both Democrats, the party with the state’s only presidential victory in 2016. Each is on the ballot against each other in the race to replace outgoing governor Andrew M. Cuomo, and they are likely to face off in at least three upcoming televised debates.
The New York Democrat said she and Cuomo share a passion for public service, as both have served in the government of their home state and the nation. And Clinton, who served as secretary of state under President Barack Obama, said that she was “looking forward to helping the governor and our entire state.”